Boswell, James

, the friend and biographer of Dr.
Johnson, was the eldest son of Alexander Boswell, lord
Auchinleck, one of the judges in the supreme courts of
session and justiciary in Scotland. He was born at Edinburgh, Oct. 29, 1740, and received the first rudiments of
education in that city. He afterwards studied civil law in
the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. During his
residence in these cities, he acquired by the society of the
English gentlemen who were students in the Scotch colleges, that remarkable predilection for their manners,
which neither the force of education, or national prejudice,
could ever eradicate. But his most intimate acquaintance
at this period was the rev. Mr. Temple, a worthy, learned,
and pious divine, whose well-written character of Gray has
been adopted both by Dr. Johnson and Mason in the life
of that poet. Mr. Boswell imbibed early the ambition of
distinguishing himself by his literary talents, and had the
good fortune to obtain the patronage of the late lord Somerville. This pobleman treated him with the most
|
flattering kindness; and Mr. Bosvvell ever remembered with
gratitude the friendship he so long enjoyed with this worthy peer. Having always entertained an exalted idea of
the felicity of London, in the year 1760 he visited that capital; in the manners and amusements of which he found
so much that was congenial to his own taste and feelings,
that it hecanie ever after his favourite residence, whither
he always returned from his estate in Scotland, and from
his various rambles in different parts of Europe, with increasing eagerness and delight; and we find him, nearly
twenty years afterwards, condemning Scotland as too narrow
a sphere, and wishing to make his chief residence in London,
which he calls the great scene of ambition and instruction.
He was, doubtless, confirmed in this attachment to the metropolis by the strong predilection entertained towards it
by his friend Dr. Johnson, whose sentiments on this subject Mr. Boswell details in various parts of his life of that
great man, and which are corroborated by every one in
pursuit of literary and intellectual attainments.

The politeness, affability, and insinuating urbanity of
manners, which distinguished Mr. Boswell, introduced him
into the company of many eminent and learned men, whose
acquaintance and friendship he cultivated with the greatest
assiduity. In truth, the esteem and approbation of learned
men seem to have been one chief object of his literary ambition; and we find him so successful in pursuing his end,
that he enumerated some of the greatest men in Scotland
among his friends even before he left it for the first time.
Notwithstanding Mr. Boswell by his education was intended
for the bar, yet he was himself earnestly bent at this period upon obtaining a commission in the guards, and solicited lord Auchinleck’s acquiescence; but returned, however, by his desire, into Scotland, where he received a regular course of instruction in the law, and passed his trials
as a civilian at Edinburgh. Still, however, ambitious of
displaying himself as one of the “manly hearts who guard
the fair,” he visited London a second time in 1762; and,
various occurrences delating the purchase of a commission, he was at length persuaded by lord Auchinleck to relinquish his pursuit, and become an advocate at the Scotch
bar. In compliance, therefore, with his father’s wishes,
he consented to go to Utrecht the ensuing winter, to hear
the lectures of an excellent civilian in that university; after
which he had permission to make his grand tour of Europe.
| The year 1763 may be considered the most important
epocha in Mr. Boswell’s life, as he had, what he thought a
singular felicity, an introduction to Dr. Johnson. This
event, so auspicious for Mr. Boswel!, and eventually so
fortunate for the public, happened on May 16, 1763.
Having continued one winter at Utrecht, during which
time he visited several parts of the Netherlands, he commenced his projected travels. Passing from Utrecht into
Germany, he pursued his route through Switzerland to Geneva; whence he crossed the Alps into Italy, having visited
on his journey Voltaire at Ferney, and Rousseau in the
wilds of Neufchatel. Mr. Bosweli continued some time in
Italy, where he met and associated with lord Mountstuart,
to whom he afterwards dedicated his Theses Juridicae.
Having visited the most remarkable cities in Italy, Mr.
Bosweli sailed to Corsica, travelled over every part of that
island, and obtained the friendship of the illustrious Pasquale de Paoli, in whose palace he resided during his stay
at Corsica. He afterwards went to Paris, whence he returned to Scotland in 1766, and soon after became an advocate at the Scotch bar. The celebrated Douglas cause
was at that time a subject of general discussion. Mr. Boswell published the “Essence of the Douglas cause;” a
pamphlet which contributed to procure Mr. Douglas the
popularity which he at that time possessed. In 1768 Mr.
Bosweli published his “Account of Corsica, with memoirs
of General Paoli.” Of this printed performance Dr. Johnson thus expresses himself: “Your journal is curious and
delightful. I know not whether I could name any narrative by which curiosity is better excited or better gratified.”
This book has been translated into the German, Dutch,
Italian, and French languages; and was received with extraordinary approbation. In the following winter, the theatre-royal at Edinburgh, hitherto restrained by party -spirit,
was opened. On this occasion Mr. Bosweli was solicited
by David Ross, esq. to write a prologue.‘ The effect of
this prologue upon the audience was highly flattering to the
author, and beneficial to the manager; as it secured to the
latter, by the annihilation of the opposition which had
been till that time too successfully’exerted against him,
the uninterrupted possession of his patent, which he enjoyed till his death, which happened in September 1790.
Mr. Bosweli attended his funeral as chief mourner, and
paid the last honours to a man with whom he had spent
many a pleasant hour.
| In 1769, was celebrated at Stratford on Avon the jubilee
in honour of Shakspeare. Mr. Boswell. an enthusiastic admirer of the writings of our immortal bard, a. id ever ready
to join the festive throng, repaired thither, and appeared
at the masquerade ay an armed Corsican chief; a character
he was eminently qualified to support. This year he married miss Margaret Montgomery, a lady who, to the advantages of a polite education, united admirable good
sense and a brilliant understanding. She was daughter of
David Montgomery, esq. related to the illustrious family
of Eglintoune, and representative of the antient peerage
of Lyle. The death of this amiable woman happened in
June 1790. Mr. Boswell has honoured her memory with
an affectionate tribute. She left him two sons and three
daughters; who, to use Mr. Boswell‘ s own words, “if
they inherit her good qualities, will have no reason to
complain of their lot. Dos magna parentum virtus.” In
1782 lord Auchinleck died. In 1783, Mr. Boswell published his celebrated Letter to the People of Scotland;
which is thus praised by Johnson in a letter to the author;
“I am very much of your opinion your paper contains
very considerable knowledge of history and the constitution, very properly produced and applied.” Mr. Boswell
communicated the pamphlet to Mr. Pitt, who naturally
gave it his approbation. This first letter was followed by
a second, in which I.Ii. Bosweil displayed his usual energy
and political abilities. In 1785, Mr. Boswell published
“A journal of a tour to the Hebrides” with Dr. Johnson;
which met a success similar to his entertaining account of
Corsica, and to which we owe his life of that illustrious
character. This year Mr. Boswell removed to London,
and was soon after called to the English bar, but his professional business was interrupted by preparing his most
celebrated work, “The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.”
which was published in 1790, and was received by the
world with extraordinary avidity. It is a faithful history
of Johnson’s life; and exhibits a most interesting picture
of the character of that illustrious mom list, delineated with
a masterly hand. The preparation of a second edition of
this work was the last literary performance of Mr. Boswell.
Mr. Boswell undoubtedly possessed considerable intellectual powers; as he could never have displayed his collection of the witticisms of his friend in so lively a manner as
he has done, without having a picturesque imagination,
| and a turn for poetry as well as humour. He had a considerable share of melancholy in his temperament; and,
though the general tenor of his life was gay and active, he
frequently experienced an unaccountable depression of
spirits. In one of these gloomy moods he wrote a series
of essays under the title of “The Hypochondriac,” which
appeared in the London Magazine, and end with No. 63
in 1732. These he had thoughts of collecting into a volume, but they would have added little to his reputation,
being in general very trifling. Soon after his return from
a visit to Auchinleck, he was seized with a disorder which
put an end to his life, at his house in Portland-street, on
the 19th of June 1795, in the 55th year of his age. Of
his own character he gives the following account in his
journal of the tour to the Hebrides: “I have given a
sketch of Dr. Johnson. His readers may wish to know a
little of his fellow-traveller. Think, then, of a gentleman
of ancient blood; the pride of which was his predominant
passion. He was then in his 33d year, and had been about
four years happily married: his inclination was to be a
soldier; but his father, a respectable judge, had pressed
him into the profession of the law. He had travelled a
good deal, and seen many varieties of human life. He
had thought more than any body supposed, and had a
pretty good stock of general learning and knowledge. He
had all Dr. Johnson’s principles, with some degree of relaxation. He had rather too little than too much prudence;
and, his imagination being lively, he often said things of
which the effect was very different from the intention. He
resembled sometimes * The best good maH, with the worstnatured muse.‘ He cannot deny himself the vanity of
finishing with the encomium of Dr. Johnson, whose friendly
partiality to the companion of this tour represents him as
one ’ whose acuteness would help my enquiry, and whose
gaiety of conversation, and civility of manners, are sufficient to counteract the inconveniencies of travel, in countries less hospitable than we have passed’.”

His character in all its lights and shades is, however,
best delineated in his life of Dr. Johnson, a work of uncommon merit and of still increasing popularity. An
anonymous biographer has justly said of it, that it was
“found to exhibit an inimitably faithful picture of the
mingled genius and weakness, of the virtues and the vices,
the sound sense and the pedantry, the benignity and the
| passionate harshness, of the great and excellent, although
not consummately perfect man, the train of whose life it
endeavoured to untold. It appeared to be filled with a
rich store of his genuine dictates, so eloquent and vvise^
that they need hardly shun comparison with the most elaborate of those works which he himself published. Johnson was seen in it^ not as a solitary figure, but associated
with those groupes of his distinguished contemporaries
with which it was his good fortune, in all the latter and
more illustrious years of his life, often to meet and to converse. It displayed many fine specimens of that proportion, in which, in the latter part of the eighteenth century,
literature and philosophical wisdom were liable to be carelessly intermingled in the ordinary conversation of the best
company in Britain. It preserved a thousand precious
anecdotical memorials of the state of arts, manners, and
policy among us during this period, such as must be invaluable to the philosophers and antiquaries of a future
age. It gave, in the most pleasing mode of institution,
and in many different points of view, almost all the elementary practical principles both of taste and of moral
science. It showed the colloquial tattle of Boswell duly
chastened by the grave and rounded eloquence of Johnson.
It presented a collection of a number of the most elaborate
of Johnson’s smaller occasional compositions, which might
otherwise perhaps have been entirely lost to future times.
Shewing Boswell’s skill in literary composition, his general
acquaintance with learning and science, his knowledge of
the manners, the fortunes, and the actuating principles of
mankind, to have been greatly extended and improved
since the time when he wrote his account of Corsica, it
exalted the character of his talents in the estimation of the
world; and was reckoned to be such a master-piece in its
particular species, as perhaps the literature of no other
nation, ancient or modern, could boast. It did not indeed
present its author to the world in another light than as a
genius of the second class; yet it seemed to rank him
nearer to the first than to the third. This estimation of the
character of Boswell’s life of Johnson, formed by the best
critics soon after its publication, seems to have been since
fully confirmed.” 1

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